CertainSeason

The Adirondack Monsoons...cont'd

I don't remember living any place that has had as much rain as we've had in the past month. Hurricane/tropical storm Irene notwithstanding, there has been more rain that I have ever seen. That was the reason Irene was as damaging as it was here...there was, and is, simply no place for the precipitation to go. We were already having a record-breaking season for precipitation (following a record-breaking winter snowfall). So when Irene gently dumped her nine or ten inches, it just exacerbated an already tenuous situation.

It started raining late last night, around 10:00 p.m. and continued on and off through the night. A nice sound for sleeping, to be sure. But this morning it continues.

I'm tired of rain. Very tired of rain. The dogs are bored and looking at me like I can do something about it. And when they do get out, they come back all muddy (a nice rain rinse does wonders for Missy's coat, though.)

What's more...I am afraid of what this portends to the coming winter. If this rain was snow...!!

And did I mention how muggy it is?

Some Nice Zinnia Shots

Adirondack Monsoon Autumn...It's Apple Chutney Time

Our weather has been wet wet wet...and still more wet. It is so muggy...more like July/August than September/October.

The garden is un-enterable because it so so muddy. We can't mow the grass because it never has a chance to dry out between the rains.

It's monsoon time in the Adirondacks!

Fortunately, our apple harvest is better than the last two years. Our Golden Delicious tree is infected with the apple-cedar fungus (pictured on these pages earlier this year). So it isn't doing too well. But the Cortland has always given us at least a small harvest (the first thing I ever cooked off our land the first year was some applesauce from that tree) and this year the apples are bigger and better than they have ever been! The apples look better (though they will never win any beauty contests) and are larger and better shaped than we've ever had. Oddly, the first batch of applesauce didn't turn the lovely blush color it has in the past. 

So I put up several quarts of Apple Chutney yesterday. The nice thing about this recipe, from my perspective, this particular year, was it helped me use up some of the good tomatoes I had left. Didn't get to do much in the way of sauce or stewed tomatoes at all. First, we didn't have the right kind of tomatoes this year (all Romas, some red, mostly yellow) and the ones we had, as I said, all burst on the vine with the rains.

The recipe is quite explicit that I am not allowed to taste it now for another six weeks.

Mrs. Robinson’s Apple Chutney

[with a special thanks to Hilary Robinson, who calls this "my mum's chutney"]

3# apples

1 lb brown sugar

2 t salt

1.8 pints malt vinegar

8 oz sultanas

½ t ground cloves

1# ripe tomatoes

1# onions

¼ t cayenne

2 oz crystalized ginger, chopped (or 2 t ground ginger)

all spices are approximate – adjust for taste.

1. Core and peel apples, chop, along with onions and tomatoes. Put all into a pan with the dry ingredients. Add vinegar, stir with a wooden spoon.
2. Bring to the boil, reduce heat until the mixture thickens – at least an hour – stirring occasionally.
3. When thickened and moisture reduced, dish into hot sterilized glass jars. Cover and seal. Leave to cool. Store in dark space for 6 weeks before using.

Tom and Diane Visit

Had the nicest time with my brother Tom and his wife, Diane. They are on a nationwide wedding tour, starting with their own daughter's the end of July and with a new one practically every week thereafter it sounded like. It almost made me feel like I should propose to Bill and get married while they were here!

They arrived on Wednesday evening and left Friday afternoon. A nice relaxed visit...it rained one night and we stayed home. Ran around to the Pember and to Roy Egg's studio, down to Gardenworks and to Patty and Mark's where Patty graciously took Diane out for a carriage ride. The weather turned cool while they were here, which was nice.

Diane and I keep threatening to paint together, but there just wasn't time this trip. Hoping she comes back for a longer stay so we can do that.

Dinner for Tom and Diane

My brother Tom and his wife are driving up from NYC enroute to a wedding this weekend in Connecticut. It's the first time they've visited us here, so I wanted to make a nice dinner. The menu:

Individual Cherry Tomato Tarts

Lemon-Garlic Marinated Chicken Breasts stuffed with Chicken and Spinach Sausage

served on a bed of

Creamy Stovetop Corn with Poblano Chiles and Creme Fraiche

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Gilded Raspberries

 

Jalapeno Jelly

Canning Season

Busy day...putting up caponata, applesauce and strawberry jam.

Final count: [left to right] four pints applesauce (gonna do an interesting apple chutney tomorrow that uses tomatoes, too!)...two and a half pints of caponata and five half pints of  strawberry freezer jam.

Tomato Wipeout

It's been a horrible tomato season. It didn't look like it was going to be...the yellow tomato plants were putting out hundreds of fruit and the cherries weren't far behind. But the rains that came with Irene, and those that followed (another 3 to 5 inches) wreaked havoc with the tomatoes which just started bursting on the vine. So sad. The peppers are still happy. And the Brussels sprouts are still waiting for a frost.

But the sight of hundreds of burst tomatoes rotting on the ground was not what I had in mind earlier in the season.

Nevertheless, the harvest continues. I think I will try to make yet another cherry tomato tart for my brother and his wife who arrive on Wednesday. The apples are better looking than they did last year...less gnarly, larger. They aren't supermarket pretty, but they melt into a beautiful applesauce with a minimum of coaxing...and the jalapenos seem to be none the worse for the weather.

Monsoon Season and Visitors

Lots and lots of rain and lots and lots of visitors. Mary and Emma (sister and niece) were here ever so briefly (alas) and Bev and Clinton and Bob Rigdon from L.A. was supposed to get here, but Irene foiled his plans. Bev ended up stuck with us for three or four extra days. Mary and Emma...in and out! And I'm not just sucking up here...but don't they look like sisters rather than daughter and mother?

We went to the Southern Vermont Garlic Festival, which was tasty and fun. We cooked up a storm (an unnamed storm) including Billy's lovely rice pudding pie with the prune puree layer. We didn't have prunes, so this time he used apricots to good effect. We made tomato puddings and tomato tarts and homemade pasta with cherry tomatoes (noticing a theme here?)...hard to remember all the food we've done, but there were some merguez sausages with homegrown peppers and onions in there somewhere (that was transformed into Chicken cacciatore last night). But all I got pictures of was the garlic festival and Gramma Billy's Rice Custard Pie (renamed for the occasion.)

And it has been raining and raining and raining...my gauge (which I can't show because my computer is doing weird things) shows three inches in the last 48 hours. It's been more. It's a small gauge. The ground is soggy.